Behold the Lamb of God.

We are going on a journey with Jesus. The journey will take us to the cross, but that will not be the end. We shall go farther than that, to the grave. There we shall witness the great miracle of the resurrection. We shall join in the chorus with the angels and sing, Christ the Lord is risen again, Hallelujah.

Our journey starts from a crucial point in Jesus' life. At the age of thirty, this young carpenter puts aside his tools, bids goodbye to His family and heads for the Jordan River. There he meets his cousin John. John is rather a strange person. He is clothed in odd clothes made out of camels' hair, eats strange exotic food of locusts and wild honey and preaches fearlessly an unusual message. He has a specific duty to perform - to announce the coming of the Messiah or Saviour. He is much focused and puts all his energy into this task.

Many people come to him to be baptized. Jesus joins in the queue and requests to be baptized. "No, I can't do that. I'm not worthy," protests John. But Jesus insists and is baptized. He hears the voice of the Father, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased." To the Jews this phenomenon of a voice from heaven was not unknown. Moses heard the voice at the burning bush. (Exodus 3: 4) There were others like Elijah. The Holy Spirit descends on Him like a dove.

See the exaltation of that moment - the proclamation of John the Baptist "Behold the Lamb of God', the baptism, the voice and the descent of the Holy Spirit. These are wonderful experiences. The exaltation of the moment is followed by a sharp contrast.

Immediately after this experience, the Holy Spirit leads Him into the wilderness. There He is tempted by the devil. No one knows the enormity of the journey better than Satan. Satan wants to stop Him for Satan knows Christ's death and resurrection would seal his ultimate doom.